Death toll in east Ukraine conflict exceeds 3,700 - UN

Donetsk

UNITED NATIONS, October 18. /TASS/. The death toll as a result of the conflict in eastern Ukraine has grown by 25 people over the past week to reach 3,707, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported Friday.

The Office’s report said 9,075 people have been wounded in the region. The previous report said the number of wounded was 8,871.

The UN OCHA underlined that the assessments are reserved and are provided by the UN mission monitoring the human rights situation in Ukraine and the World Health Organization (WHO).

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the WHO believe the real death count is way higher, the report said.

According to UN data, the population keeps fleeing the conflict-torn areas. As of October 17, Ukraine had 415,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs). A week ago, the number was 402,000. The number of refugees has nearly not changed at all and now totals 427,000 people most of whom have hidden in Russia.

Some 5.2 million people currently reside in areas affected by hostilities, the OCHA said.

The UN also expressed concern over continuation of hostilities in eastern Ukraine despite agreements reached between the parties to the conflict. It lamented that the affected population is still vulnerable and needs support.

Hundreds of thousands have fled Ukraine’s war-torn southeast as a result of clashes between Ukrainian troops and local militias in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions during Kiev’s military operation conducted since mid-April to regain control over the breakaway territories, which call themselves the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s republics.

The parties to the Ukrainian conflict - Kiev and the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk republics in Ukraine’s east - agreed on a ceasefire at talks mediated by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on September 5 in Belarusian capital Minsk. The ceasefire took effect the same day but has reportedly occasionally been violated.

On September 19 in Minsk, the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine comprising representatives of Ukraine, Russia and the OSCE adopted a memorandum outlining the parameters for the implementation of commitments on the ceasefire in Ukraine laid down in the Minsk Protocol of September 5.

The document contains nine points, including in particular a ban on the use of all armaments and withdrawal of weapons with the calibers of over 100 millimeters to a distance of 15 kilometers from the contact line from each side. The OSCE was tasked with controlling the implementation of memorandum provisions.